Suicide Epidemic Continues


Among American Indian Youth


By Jody Vilschick


Closing the Gap, Violence Prevention - Who’s Responsible? • January/February 2002


Button says. 

Button also cites an extremely low high 

school graduation rate and limited job op- The Saga Continues... 

S

uicide has been the second leading cause of death for 15 to 24- The suicide death rate for American Indian/Alaska Native males 

year- old American Indians and Alaska Natives for the past 15 ages 15 to 24 fluctuated in the 1990s, decreasing to 36.6 in 1999. 

years, so prevention continues to be priority issue for Native American Indian male youth still have a higher suicide death rate than 

American communities and the mental health providers with whom the rate of 17.2 per 100,000 for all other males in the same age group. 

they work. For the Seneca Nation of Indians, headquartered in Irving, NY, 

“The physical, environmental, social, and psychological condi- suicide prevention counseling is an ongoing project, but one that has 

tions that confront American Indian youth are well documented. been successful. 

They face alarming rates of unemployment, alcohol and substance Karla Carol Button, a suicide prevention counselor for the Senabuse, devastating health conditions such as diabetes, nutritional de- eca Nation of Indians’ Human Services Unit said, “We try to see how 

ficiencies, below standard living conditions, and suicide,” says Denis serious they are—whether they’re capable of carrying out a suicide 

Nissim-Sabat, PhD, senior policy analyst for the American Psycho- plan, whether they even have a plan.” 

logical Association. Youth are referred to the Health Services Unit through their 

The devastating effect of these conditions becomes apparent parents or other family members, or one of the three local high schools. 

when looking specifically at adolescent males. The word has gone out during the past few years about the availabilIn 1990, American Indian/Alaska Native males ages 15 to 24 ity of suicide prevention counseling—with measurable results. Buthad a suicide death rate of 49.1 per 100,000 resident population, ton reports that the last successful suicide occurred five years ago. 

compared to a rate of 23.2 for White males in the same age group. Still, there have been a number of attempts. “Usually it’s when 

African American, Asian/Pacific Islander, and Hispanic males in the they’re drinking—alcohol is a very big problem, it’s so idolized in 

same category all had similar rates—15.1, 13.5, and 14.7, respectively. American culture—and someone’s who’s drunk does something stupid. Recently, one boy stabbed himself,” 

portunities. “A lot of what’s available around Death is knocking at the door much more frequently as a result of suicide than many here are jobs in smoke shops and gas sta­ care to admit or are even aware. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

tions—not really a satisfying career,” But­ (CDC) reported that more teenagers and young adults die from suicide than from cancer, 

heart disease, AIDS, birth defects, stroke, pneumonia and influenza, and chronic lung ton says. “A real jobs program and the jobs 

disease to go with it would really help increase the combined. Consider the following facts from The Surgeon General’s Call To Action 

T self-esteem of our youth.” o Prevent Suicide, 1999, and other CDC reports: 

The good news Button offers is that 

3⁄4 Despite the low overall rate of suicide among African Americans, between 1980 and for those who do graduate high school, there

1996, the rate of suicide among African American males aged 15-19 years increased are a variety of scholarships available for

105 percent, and almost 100 percent of the increase in this group is attributable to Seneca youth. “New York State gives each 

Indian student over a thousand dollars a the use of firearms. 

semester and they’re usually eligible for other 

3⁄4 Suicide rates are higher than the national average for some groups of Asian Ameri­ grants,” she says. “Plus the Seneca Nation

has its own tuition program that funds cans/Pacific Islanders. In Hawaii, the suicide rate for this group is 4 percent higher books and supplies.” than the rate for the rest of the population. Asian American women have the highest 

suicide rate among women age 65 and older. But the big problem is a pervasive lack

of self-esteem among the tribe’s youth. “Sen­

3⁄4 During the past decade, the suicide rate among Hispanic youth has been increasing, eca culture is very important to building

and compared with White youth, Hispanic youth show higher prevalence of suicidal self-esteem,” Button says. “That has been

behaviors, including suicide attempts. Mo stripped away from us over the years—es­ re specifically, in 1999, the Youth Risk 

Behavior Surveillance System, in a nationwide survey of high school students found pecially through the boarding school program of the late 1800s and early 1900s. that in the 12 months preceding the survey, Hispanic students were significantly 

more likely than White or Black students to have reported a suicide attempt. Our culture is important because you must

figure out who you are first and where you 

For more information on the Surgeon General’s report, go to http:// come from to figure out where

sgreports.nlm.nih.gov/NN/ you are going.”

continued on page 2>>>> 

Office of Minority Health Resource Center 1 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services 
Suicide Epidemic Continues


Among American Indian Youth


By Jody Vilschick


Closing the Gap, Violence Prevention - Who’s Responsible? • January/February 2002


During the 1800s, throughout the United States, the Federal 

government took young American Indian children between the ages 

of 3 and 16 from their homes and families and placed them in boarding schools, where they were systematically alienated from their culture and religion. 

“Their purpose was to kill the Indian but save the human being,” says Harry Hill, a suicide prevention counselor for the Native 

American Community Services of Buffalo, NY, and a member of the 

Iroquois Confederacy in upstate NewYork. “Parents would walk days 

to get to their kids, and when they got to the school, they were told 

the kids were somewhere else. The kids were simply told their parents 

were dead. Can you imagine a young child being told ‘your mama is 

dead’?” 

Hill blames the generations of abuse—mental, physical, sexual, 

and emotional—that American Indians experienced for the high suicide rates in the American Indian community. “There have been generations of Native Americans dealing with multiple losses, but without their culture to support them and help them through these losses,” 

he says. 

Hill, through the Native American Community Services, twice a 

year provides month-long workshops for at-risk American Indian youth 

who live in urban settings. “We focus on Native American culture and 

our own teachings to help them deal with suicide and look beyond it. 

One student described suicide as ‘disrespecting the Creator,’ and that’s 

really true. 

“The Creator has given everyone a gift, a talent, and a work to do. 

Our job is to walk through our days and accomplish the work we have 

been given. It is our job to seek it and to find it,” Hill says. He considers the program very successful—in the four years working with the 

program in Buffalo, there’s only been one suicide of a youth who 

participated in the program; and in the seven years in which he presented the program in Ontario, Canada, there weren’t any suicides 

among participating youth. 

In the boarding schools, American Indian were taught to value 

anything but their own identity and culture. “A sense of shame pervades our self-image,” Hills says. “So when it comes time to deal with 

the idea of suicide or when life gets hard, there’s nothing to help the 

individual deal with the process.” 

“Another risk factor, across all populations, is exposure to suicide—whether you know someone, or you’ve seen a movie about it or 

read a book about a successful suicide,” Hill says. “Most Native American kids have a family member who’s committed suicide. Whether we 

like it or not, suicide is a part of our lives right now.” 

According to the American Indian and Alaska Native Mental 

Health Organization, the American Indians most likely to successfully 

commit suicide have the following social characteristics: 

3⁄4 Often a male between 15 and 24 years of age; 

3⁄4 Single; 

3⁄4 Under the influence of alcohol just before his suicide attempt; 

3⁄4 Has lived with a number of ineffective or inappropriate parental 

substitutes because of familial disruption; 

3⁄4 Has spent time in boarding schools and has been moved from 

one to another; 

3⁄4 Has been raised by caretakers who have come into conflict with 

the law; 

3⁄4 Has often been jailed at an early age; 

3⁄4 Has experienced an emotional loss, such as divorce, desertion, or 

death in the family; and/or 

3⁄4 Has experienced a past loss through violence of someone to whom 

he felt attached. 

“Sometimes just being there and listening is the key way to prevent suicide,” Hill says. Recently he received a call from a family of a 

young suicide, asking him to come speak with and counsel the family, 

including aunts and uncles. “Unknown to me at the time, one of 

uncles who was there was also the perpetrator of child abuse of the 

youth who died,” Hill says. “That uncle came to me and confessed to 

me, asking me to help him, so he too didn’t commit suicide from the 

guilt of what he’d done to the boy. He became aware of his own 

sickness through just talking, and wanted to get help to prevent the 

damage from going on.” 

For more information, go to the National Strategy for Suicide Prevention Web site at http://www.mentalhealth.org/suicideprevention/

Office of Minority Health Resource Center	 2 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services